The invention relates to a brace for a shelf support extending outwardly from an upright and, more particularly, to such a brace having a means pivotally connected to one end of an elongated member for releasably securing the elongated member to a shelf support so as to provide adjustability of the angle between the elongated member and the securing means.
A wide variety of types of braces for shelf supports are known in the art. Such braces are limited in their use because one end of the brace must conform to the design of the upright to which the brace is to be attached and the other end must conform to the design of the shelf support. Particularly, uprights are generally designed with openings, such as slats or bores, for attaching braces and shelf supports at spaced horizontal and vertical intervals so that the braces and shelf supports can be attached to the upright at many locations. It can be readily understood that such designs can have varied distances between the shelf support and brace attachments to the upright, varied distances between the upright and brace attachment to the shelf support, varied lengths of the brace, and/or varied angles at which the brace and lower edge of the shelf support extend from the upright, and varied angles at which the brace and lower edge of the shelf support meet. Thus, in order for a brace to be useful with a variety of upright and shelf support designs, the brace must be adaptable to designs having the aforementioned varied distances and angles.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 661,755 to Cheheyl, 874,014 to Kurtzon and 1,847,486 to Keil describe a bracket that is adjustable by varying the degree to which the lower end of the brace is threaded into a bore in the upright, thus varying the effective length of the brace.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,382 to Larson, discloses a brace for a shelf support that is pivotally attached to an upright and shelf support in order to enable the angle between the shelf support and the upright to be adjusted. Thus, the angle between the brace and the shelf support can also be adjusted. However, the angles between the shelf support and the upright, between the brace and the shelf support and the brace and the upright are adjustable due to the design of the upright and the shelf support. The brace by itself is not adaptable to be used at different angles.
Thus, it is desired to have a brace for a shelf support that is adjustable for use with a variety of shelf support and upright designs.